Medical update

Rafael Furcal had an MRI yesterday on his ankle and everything came back as expected. No need for surgery, but rest and rehab this winter should have him back at 100 percent by Spring Training, which is great news.

Tony Abreu is in Philadelphia right now where he saw a specialist on sports hernias earlier today and he will have surgery tomorrow to repair it. He’s expected to need about six to eight weeks of recovery time and can then resume his normal offseason conditioning and also be fully ready for Spring Training.

As much as I can, I’ll post these updates for you throughout the winter so you have the latest news available to you. Obviously I won’t always remember and sometimes you’ll read about it elsewhere first, but be sure to check back regularly for news.

And thank you to the fan for feedback on Fan Appreciation Day. I can assure you that there were significantly more than 50 prizes given away (I believe it was about five times that many throughout the game), but not everyone can win. I do like your idea of having some sort of thank you to all fans, not just those who win prizes. I can’t guarantee that will happen, but I’ll take the idea to the appropriate people here.

I can tell you that as a kid, I used to come to Fan Appreciation Day with my great uncle every year and it became a great family tradition despite the fact that we never actually won anything (if I remember correctly, the closest we ever got was about five seats away and the guy won a set of 10 ties). As my uncle currently battles cancer and is unlikely to live much longer, it’s the memories of going to the game with him that I treasure far more than had I won an autographed ball or a night in a suite (oh wait, there weren’t suites back then).

Anyway, I wasn’t looking to dampen anyone’s day, just remind everyone how much a day at the ballpark can create lifelong memories…I do appreciate the feedback on things like that so keep it coming.

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Josh. Thank you so much for the best blog in MLB. I’m sorry that some of the posters were so ugly. I had to quit reading anything except your daily postings. I’m sorry about your uncle. I agree with you. I didn’t care if I won a prize because I had a great time going to the games. I had the opportunity to actually get autographs from many of the players including Jeff Kent (believe it or not) and he was a very nice nice person. I also got autographs from James Loney, Matt Kemp, Andy LaRoche, Wilson Valdez, Andre Ethier, and Delwyn Young. They all are very nice young men. I was able to see the human side of the game. This has been the best season for me although the Dodgers didn’t make the playoffs. My son who is active duty in the Navy and served 2 tours in Iraq was able to come to a couple of the games. Believe it or not, that was the first thing he wanted to do when he came back!! Those will be some precious memories. We will all keep checking back with you to see how our Baby Dodgers are doing. I hope Jeff Kent returns as well as Nomar. There are many of us who are positive. We just aren’t as loud as those others. Have a good off season, Josh…..as you can see from my name..I love Russell!!! Cat

I’m happy to see you still have your job. I’m glad we have moved on from our little misunderstanding. There was no need to come to my office and get down and your knees and beg me for forgiveness. A simple apology would have sufficed.

Good luck next year with Ned and Grady steering the organization which has become more of a Disneyland attraction with prizes and funny hats rather than a baseball team. Oh, and tell Frank I’ll stop by his $30 million pad in Malibu for a quick hello.

JOSH, if I never said it before this is a great blog, I enjoy ever minute of it. It’s truly one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. I’ll never forget when I found it, I can’t explain the excitement that went through me and still does. The latest news on Furcal is great and I’m looking forward to his healthy coming season, you know I still think of my broken lineup idea of dropping him to 5th and giving the Dodgers 2 mini lineups with speed at the top and in the middle. The best part of this blog is that we don’t agree with one another and this courses our emotions to stir and our minds to move. I also enjoy another blog, very much, which INSIDE THE DODGERS lead me to, DODGER DOGS, with it’s slower moving pace, these blogs make me get the dictionary out and improve my spelling, and also try, as much as I can, my grammer, so it’s been a real fun time. I also heard something else about Abreu and his agent, you see, always somethimg goin’ on. Now I can’t wait for the post season. Speaking about Fan Appreciaton Day, since I’m from Brooklyn, the closes one to me is at Shea. I make as many as I could. The Met’s always give something away. This year it was Met’s player cards by Topps. My daughter now has two sets. The craziest thing they gave away some years ago, I didn’t go that year. My older daughter went with her friends and got a Met’s “Eastern Division Champions” shirt I don’t remember the year, off hand, but they blew a smaller lead that year too and the shirt, which is as you know, usually made in advance, is a collector’s item because the Met’s never won it that year. Keep up the great work, I’m looking forward to your updates through out the winter months. The main thing LET’S GO DODGERS.

Josh, let me add my thanks to you for your efforts to keep us informed and allowing this forum. We care so much for the Dodgers we want to know anything that happens, even the mundane things that happen during the off season, so keep it coming.

I also attended Fan Appreciation Day for the first time in a while and I have to say it was the dullest I have ever attended. Obviously, the game itself had a lot to do with it. I recall larger crowds at previous Fan Appreciation days and I also remember one time when fans were given some of the stuff left over from previous give a ways as they entered the stadium. I even heard that at one Fan Appreciation Day some of the players greeted early arriving fans although I never saw that. Can you imagine Jeff Kent greeting fans as they enter the stadium?

I do think it would be an improvement if all the prizes were actually awarded. It looked as if some of the prizes went unclaimed. Perhaps a time limit could be given for a prize to be claimed, and if not claimed another seat location could be called until all the prizes were claimed. I realize this might take a bit longer but I think the fans would put up with it.

Great game last night. The only thing better would have had the Dodgers beating Hoffman!

Fan Appreciation Day at Dodger Stadium is kind of a let down. The Dodgers give away a lot of prizes but most are donated by other companies and the Dodgers aren’t exactly put out by offering up an autographed Chad Moeller stirrup sock.

I went to a Fan App. day back in the 90’s in which 3 new cars were given out. A few years later I went and the best prize was some fireplace logs that even then-VP Derrick Hall seemed embarrassed about.

Too bad Iberken, because Jeff Kent actually was out there talking to fans and signing autographs. You also missed Steve Garvey wandering around and talking to fans. You just weren’t looking hard enough. Once again a good time that many of us had on Fan Appreciation Day was made negative here on this blog. I always say it’s what you make of any situation. I had a great time.

Hey xoxrussell – How about Kent, Nomar, Ethier, Gonzo and a few other Dodgers throwing baseballs to the fans after the game – Now THAT was cool. Unfortunately, none of those baseballs made their way out to the LFP, where us REAL Dodgers fans are! lol! It was a great time, in spite of the lousy game.

xoxrussell, I did not mean to give a negative spin to anything other than make a comment about my experience that day. I am glad you had a great time; I usually have a good time at the games. I am glad you are able to get to games early enough and find yourself on the field level where access to the players is possible. I am glad Garv was wandering among the fans: I did not see him in my section on the loge level. And how could my description of my experience (or anyone else’s) have any effect on your good time or change it?

On that day everyone was allowed down to field level to get autographs. Another perk for fan appreciation day. The game itself was depressing to say the least but I was going to have a good time regardless. Sorry, Ibirken, I’m just a little sensitive about our Dodgers. In case they happen to be reading this blog which I know they do on occasion, I want to let them know they have our support. Dodger fans bleed blue. Go 2008 Dodgers.

xoxrussell, I like your attitude. I have been a Dodger fan since before they came to Los Angeles although I am not sure why, probably because everyone else was a Yankee fan. I have been attending games since 1958 and I have every ticket stub with the score written on the back. I agree that this blog has been quite negative and I would like to see folks make their points without getting personal. I kind of see this venue as discussions that could have taken place on a stoop in Brooklyn, a barber shop a block away from Ebbets Field or between fans at a game. We will have differences of opionion the same way fans have disected baseball for years. I also will support the Dodgers in good times as well as bad and am looking forward to next season.

Scott Boras and Andruw Jones asked the Braves for $20 million a year for 7 years. Boras is unreal. More reason why Colletti has to realize how important the cheap young guys are. Matt Kemp is probably a better baseball player then Jones is now, and will cost $19 million less next year. I’m not saying “don’t trade any of the kids”. I’m just saying we should realize their worth. Don’t block their playing time and development. Don’t sign guys like Nomar, Gonzo, Pierre, or other run of the mill veterans. Sign A-Rod, sign Johan next year, sign the stars! Let the kids play!

If anyone from this board is going to comment to me privately through my personal email, have the balls to do so with a legit email address. If you really have this extra free time to reply to my sarcastic and stupid comments, then man up and don’t delete your made up email address as soon as you send one to me. And look up the definition of sarcasm before you do so. Got that Logan Smitty??

Seriously Josh thanks for posting the lineups & information tid bits, I hope you have a relatively stress free winter. I know your job can be pretty crazy sometimes but thanks for giving us a direct link to upper management on this blog.

If anyone from this board is going to comment to me privately through my personal email, have the balls to do so with a legit email address. If you really have this extra free time to reply to my sarcastic and stupid comments, then man up and don’t delete your made up email address as soon as you send one to me. And look up the definition of sarcasm before you do so. Got that Logan Smitty??

Why shouldn’t baseball go to instant replay review? Why shouldn’t baseball follow the lead of football, basketball and other sports?

Why? Because baseball is different than other sports. It is more human and more natural than football certainly. In his 1971 essay “Baseball Red and Football Green” Murray Ross called baseball “pastoral”. Baseball is rooted in a different era, even if it may be that era exists(ed) only in our imagination. A slower era, one more rooted in nature and the countryside. An era before the production line, the automobile, the computer, and the instant replay.

The intrusion of excessive technology into baseball can only detract from the beauty of the game.

The supremacy of baseball as the national pastime has been challenged in recent decades. Foolishly in my opinion, baseball has attempted to simulate other sports. Basketball is a high-scoring game, so baseball has attempted to induce higher scores. Basketball arenas and football stadiums have long featured a lot of loud music, so basebal has followed suit.

Ironically and tragically baseball’s attempts to be more like other sports has led to its biggest scandal, or at least its biggest scandal since the 1919 Black Sox. In its pursuit of the higher scores of basketball, baseball turned a blind eye to rampant steroid abuse.

George Carlin also explained the difference between baseball and football:

“Baseball is a nineteenth-century pastoral game. Football is a twentieth-century technological struggle.”

Keep the technology out of baseball.

Because humans are susceptible to error, baseball must remain susceptible to error, even including the errors of those who officiate it. There are no instant replay reviews in real life, and there shouldn’t be in baseball. It just wouldn’t be human.

I would bet that even hardcore Cardinals fans who suffered — and no doubt continue to suffer — at the hands of Don Denkinger would agree that baseball is best left in the hands of human beings and not in the technological clutches of the instant replay camera.

Baseball fans know that ultimately all things will be made right. Sometimes it takes decades. In the case of the Rockies and Padres it only took six innings.

I agree with “bigpapaduck” that the Dodgers should have showed some appreciation this year by reducing or waiving the parking fee on Fan Appreciation Day. Especially after the season they had…

I do like that the Dodgers had most of the merchandise at 25% off (more if you are a season ticket holder) except that they didn’t have the discount on the Dodgers Magazine. The price of the magazine is high to begin with. I was at a Dimondbacks game last year and their magazine is only $1.

The Cardinals and general manager Walt Jocketty have “parted ways,” a source told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Assistant general manager John Mozeliak has been named interim GM. It sounds like Jocketty was fired with one year left on his contract, even if it’s not going to be termed that way. There are no obvious fits for him right now, but Jocketty won’t be out of work for long unless he wants the year off. If anything, this would seem to make it less likely that Tony La Russa will be back in 2008.

If the CArdinals can fire their GM that took them to the world series last year then we can fire Ned who took us to getting swept last year.

“I am like you, and feel like you about replay in baseball…But i think arguments against replay, now that the technology is so good and people are really getting used to it and fond of it, are arguments from the heart and not from logic. thanks for taking the time to write.

One thing that went unnoticed in the wake of the Matt Holliday play to end the Rox-Padres game was a fundamental failure on the part of Todd Helton. While the play is at the plate, Helton is still standing at first base. Why didn’t he advance? The Padres weren’t going to cut off the throw to the plate. They couldn’t or game over. So Helton should have been easily into second. If Holliday had been called out, Helton’s failure to advance to second would have been a huge issue of conversation. Especially if Helton failed to score on a subsequent hit.

I don’t like replay in baseball. It works in football but I just don’t think it should be in baseball. The only time I would be ok with it is to look at potential HR’s if you’re not sure if they went over the fence or not. Other than that I’m against it…

I’m pretty good(estoy bien) calauto. I’m happy the Rockies won. I want them to go all the way. I want a power hitting 3B before the season starts, we won’t be very well off with Nomar as the every day 3B.

According to Tony Jackson: “Dr. William Meyers repaired a torn muscle in Tony Abreu’s abdomen, Recovery time remains six to eight weeks, and he is expected to be at full strength well before the start of spring training.”

The Dodgers should get that grievance filed against them by the union regarding Abreu settled and avoid the ugliness of the arbitration.

And Bud Black managed circles around him on Monday……
Old Fogey???Are you sick or what ???? Bud Black was more interested in Peavy’s personal Goals, than the Padre’s Goal. Peavy should have been taken out way before. I’m just elated that the madres LOST. That made my year…You Bud Black LOVER…

For my part I love baseball itself even more than I love the Dodgers. If the owners and/or players had managed to completely destroy the National and American Leagues — and God knows they’ve tried at times — I would still be a baseball fan. I guess I would probably adopt a local college team like Cal State Fullerton or UCI.

And so while the post-season would be a thousand times better with the Dodgers in it, it’s still pretty awesome.

If that Tiebreaker game had been Dodgers-Giants, Red Sox-Yankees or involved even one team with a meaningful history, it would be an Instant Classic in a class with the 1951 Ralph Branca disaster or the 1978 Bucky F*** Dent game.

Unfortunately I can’t watch every post-season game what with adult responsibilities and other annoying aspects of not being 10 years old. I wish I could magically know which games would be good ones, without knowing in what way they would be good, so I could just watch those.

We’re just solidifying the Giants’ influence and mindset on this club, and I have no confidence in either Colletti or Conte. They needed somebody to be the scapegoat, so the former trainer is now out. Of course, I no longer have any respect for McCourt either, because he’s sticking with Colletti and Grady when they both have stunk up the place. McCourt is obviously just a money man, and as long as we pack in close to 4 million fans a year, I don’t think he cares an iota where the team finishes. Anybody looking for a big improvement next year by bringing in a big bat or first line starting pitcher will be sorely disappointed. Make no mistake, McCourt will be in charge on that issue, and there will be no huge contracts anymore for anybody.

I agree messagebear. McCourt only cares about the money he makes. He doesn’t care about the team or the fans for that matter. Dodger stadium doesn’t need a theme park, they need a championship. God knows I hate him but we need a guy similar to George in NY. We don’t need to trade away all of our young talent but we need some big names in LA. We’ve got the money and we need to spend it. We need a new manager and a new GM. The Dodgers remind me of my homestate Braves. The Braves stopped spending money and they’re going down hill. Up and coming stars only get you so far. You still need 2 or 3 big name guys to get to the top.

I also agree messagebear. cameron the difference between the bravos and dodgers is about 30-40 million. They have an awesome management team that’s why they won 14 straight titles they cut payroll and they started losing we (the Dodgers) have added payroll and started losing.
Thanks McCourt I didn’t know that Johnston signed Gonzo,Schmidt,Pierre. Or that he made those incosistent line ups, or that he threw Broxton four days in a row twice in August-September (did anyone not see him dead tired leaving everything up with no control of his slider).Jonhston had to be in the middle of that clubhouse mess he let everything get out of hand.

Jon I’m going to disagree with you on the Broxton thing only because I know. Just because you still touch 97 doesn’t mean anything. He was averaging 92-95. Every now and then he’d hit 97. A kid that’s 23 should never be at the top of the league in apperances. You can’t pitch somebody 10 out of 14 days and expect them not to wear out. And as far as playing and all rookie team…well that’s the best the Dodgers had. With Furcal and Kent hurt you had to play rookies. Nomar goes 6-8, wow, but he can’t move to play defense and he can’t run so 6-8 isn’t that impressive to me if you can’t do anything once you get on base. I think the defense the last week was how it needed to be but I think he could have done a better job with the pitching staff.

I agree with the previous posts regarding Stan “Cowboy” Johnston. The first thing that happened once Conte was hired was that Matt Wilson and Jason Mahnke were not rehired. Now “Cowboy”, too, is gone. Yet 2007 was our worst year injury-wise in my recollection. If the problems weren’t Conte’s or little’s responsibility, whose were they? Surely not Stan’s. The McCourts are throwing the wrong people under the bus. It reminds me of when DePO fired Tracy only to get the ax himself a short while later. Personally, this is one time where i wouldn’t mind seeing history repeat itself.

Also, does anyone here think Pinella’s handling of Zambrano last night was an awful lot like what Grady did when he let Loaiza bat with bases loaded only to remove him shortly thereafter? Admittedly Zambrano was pitching infinitely better than Loaiza, but why let him hit only to face one or two more batters?

Oh I’m no Bud Black lover, and I preferred the Rockies over the Pads. Peavy should have been pulled earlier; you can’t let your starter go out there and nearly put up a picket fence. But Hurdle made many errors: he ran through his roster like an 8-year through Xmas presents, ended up with BOTH Jorge Julio and Ramon Ortiz pitching, pinch-ran for slugger Garrett Atkins in the 7th in a one-run game in Coors Field (!) with his weak-hitting defensive replacement* when that would likely be a key spot in the batting order in the 9th if the Pads tied it up (which they did, and it was), and he started Spilborghs (0-4), who is a lefty-masher but pedestrian against righties, against a tough righty instead of Sullivan who is also a better CF.

Outside of Peavy, Black managed the pitching perfectly, got 2 2/3 out of Heath Bell, snuck Brocail through the bottom of the Rockies’ order, and saved Hoffman for the situation he needed – his best reliever against the top of the Rockies’ order for all the marbles. Of course Hoffman got rocked – schadenfreude for me – but that’s not Black’s fault.

Sometimes you play the hand perfectly and the odds are in your favor, but the other guy hits his hand on the river anyway.

Just because you win, doesn’t mean you weren’t outmanaged. Good managing generally just gives you a small edge anyway. The batter is going to fail more often than not no matter what is done.

* Pretty ironic that Carroll made what might have been a crucial error (tough play though) to allow a leadoff runner aboard, then delivered the winning, almost-not-a-sacrifice fly.

cameronwalden24, I agree with you about Broxton. Additionally, tired pitchers can still get it up there with good speed, but can’t break off their breaking stuff as well – Broxton did get beat of a couple sliders that stayed up.

After batting in the 5th, bases-juiced and two outs, Zambrano pitched the entire 6th, which was four batters at the top of the order. The Cubs pen is probably not deep enough to trust 4 innings (if you are tied/ahead) to the relievers. But with 85 pitches, even with the 3-day rest start in game 4 ahead of him (two birds in the bush), I think Zambrano has to at least start the 7th in this game (the bird not yet in hand), which began with the #5 guy. Pull Z at 95 pitches or so, if you must and let Marmol finish the inning, hopefully with 2-out, no one on, and #7 hitter Snyder batting.

Lou must really believe Lilly is a lock for game 2, otherwise his strategy is pretty questionable – game 4 may never come.

Yeah man we’re on the same page here. The first thing to go from a tired pitcher is his location. When my boy JB got tired he left everything over the plate with no movement. I don’t care how hard you throw, if it doesn’t move, a big league hitter will tatoo it.

If people are unhappy with the state of the Dodgers, they have one recourse. Stop going to the stadium. Stop buying season tickets, stop paying for parking and stop buying Dodger merchandise. This is the only way to force McCourt to make the necessary changes. If he’s not making money, that will get his attention.

im talking about if the rockies will win the NLCS and go to the WS! If they lose in the WS of course they would feel like they have the chance!

The rockies needs pitching next season and if they trade hawpe or atkins the offense is still good with Holliday in his prime, helton still contributing big and tulowitzki having a much better season than this season!

I told you guys. McCourt is more interested in making Dodger Stadium Disney Land then he is making this a winning team. Or else he would have fired Grady and Ned. I hope we sign/trade for a power hitting 3B.

I find it interesting that many on this blog feel Frank McCourt is not interested in winning simply because the team has not won or he has not made “the right” moves. I think it is fine to disagree with and be unhappy about player signings, managerial decisions and the lack of a successful playoff run and anything else. I just cannot accept McCourt cares nothing about winning. Dodger fans have supported this organization win or lose long before the McCourts. Are Dodger fans just stupid as T.J. Simers suggests or are we just great fans? By the way, I share season tickets and I am not giving them up just because I am upset the team has not won anything for so long. I want to be there when they do.

Looks like both the Rockies and D-backs will advance. If so, maybe we can take a small bit of consolation from the fact we’re in the toughest division in the NL. We should have been one of those teams, though.

As I posted before, I’m not so sure we can lay the crappy season off on the vets, Colletti, and Little. I’m not so sure these kids are the real deal. I hope you guys are right, because they are the future and it’s here now. I just don’t think so yet.

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